Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has called for economic solutions and fiscal wisdom to address the current security challenges bedeviling Nigeria, noting that use of force alone won’t work.
The former Lagos state governor said enhanced security may be the first step, but Nigeria cannot resolve the problem by holding on to one-dimensional answers, thus problems that are of economic origin must also have an economic solution.
Meanwhile, chairman of Northern Governors Forum (NGF) and governor of Plateau state, Simon Bako Lalong, has blamed high cost of governance for the poor standard of living and poverty ravaging Nigerians, particularly northerners.
Addressing the 11th Annual Arewa House Lecture in honour of the Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Tinubu said: “Urban populations are growing, but urban jobs are not here, government must implement a national industrial policy to encourage key industries that begin to employ this growing urban work force.
“On the pressing issue of the herder and farmer dispute, we must appreciate that martial security measures alone will not suffice. Problems that are essentially of an economic origin must also have an economic solution. Enhanced security may be the necessary first step, but it cannot be the only step.
“We cannot resolve this problem by holding on to one-dimensional answers. We must all be dispassionate in our search for solutions. These challenges are multi-faceted and so shall the solutions must be. The issues of insecurity, poverty, unemployment and extremism have many things to do with governance, over time. At bottom, we must tackle our deep and widespread poverty.
“If we limit government’s role under the erroneous assumption that government spending is intrinsically unproductive, then we tether ourselves to failure. We would do well to more critically study how other populous nations such as the UK, US, Germany and China charted their course during their formative years. They did not adhere to small government or the purportedly free market.
“He laboured tirelessly and with great tact and intelligence. Working together with other shining lights such as the late sage Papa Obafemi Awolowo and the esteemed Nnamdi Azikiwe, this great Sardauna of Sokoto helped establish Nigeria as one indivisible and independent nation.”
Lalong while delivering a paper titled “Reducing the Cost of Governance for Inclusive Growth and Youth Development in Post COVID-19 Northern Nigeria” said “the high cost of governance has further increased the inability of the governments at all levels to meet the basic needs of the people.”
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